Decency
Suppose you were the mother of an 11 year-old little boy. For some time now, he has been interested in Islam. He sees you, starts to be aware of his roots on both the Moroccan and Afghan sides beyond kababs…
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Suppose you were the mother of an 11 year-old little boy. For some time now, he has been interested in Islam. He sees you, starts to be aware of his roots on both the Moroccan and Afghan sides beyond kababs…
‘We have created our very own separatism. It is a ghettoization which our Republic, with initially the best intentions in the world, has allowed to happen.’ Emmanuel Macron, President of France, laid out his vision of an ‘anti-separatism bill’ which…
I look back at the past few months. As COVID-19 with its little crown staged its coup d’état and took over our lives, there was talk of a resurgence of inwardness, of spirituality, of solace through holy scriptures. Social media…
Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. – Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi,…
Horrific details of human rights violations against Uyghur Muslim have been surfacing within a world already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are horrifying reports from Xinjiang hospitals of late-stage pregnancies aborted and new-born babies killed in order to reduce…
Having documented hundreds of narratives on divisions, separations, migrations, growth and lifestyles in Pakistan with the global oral history project The 1947 Partition Archive, over the course of several years, I’m now embarking on a series of essays on colonial…
We’ve finished reading together. ‘Can you please brush your teeth and get into your pyjamas? When you’re done I will come and tuck you in,’ I tell her. So begins the night time routine at my family home, in a…
On July 18, Jordanians started circulating a video clip on social media of anguished female screams with a still photo of a woman lying on a street at night. The video soon became very widely shared. Many people claimed that…
In early 2017, Zamzam Arab Ture and her five young children embarked on a life-altering journey from a refugee camp in Kenya to the small, and predominantly white, town of Bury, Greater Manchester. The family had fled a protracted civil…
The World Health Organisation has now recommended face coverings for indoor spaces to stem the transmission of the novel coronavirus. This is the reason for the regulation applied in the UK from the 24th of July, which requires people to…
Picture this: a 15 year-old Shamima Begum from Bethnal Green, East London, straight A student studying for her final GCSE exams, well-liked by her peers and teachers, falls prey to grooming and is recruited by sophisticated ISIS propagandists, along with…
People who fetishize ex-Muslims are not our allies. You may be wondering what I mean by ‘fetishize ex-Muslims’. I am drawing on some observations coming from a few ex-Muslims who are either vocal or involved in activism. Ex-Muslims – and…
In recent years, Indonesia has seen an increase in female terrorism. The case I remember most was the story of Dian Yuli Novi, a former Indonesian migrant worker who had intended to perform a suicide bombing at the Presidential Palace…
‘Mummy, why is Scary Spice scary?’ The context: The Royal Wedding approaches. These are very exciting times for me, because I have heard that the Spice Girls may well be reunited for the ceremony in May. The Spice Girls were…
Some people, including Human Rights Watch’s Director Ken Roth and politicians like Rabina Khan have taken the opportunity of a global pandemic to defend the burqa/niqab by comparing it with mandatory face mask rulings used in the fight against Covid-19….